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Post by kurtpotts on Mar 5, 2013 14:23:38 GMT -8
Cheating death in the dresdenverse Need a way for a villain to cheat death in a dresden files game I'm planning. I want it to seem like a warden killed them but have them come back. They don't have to be completely human but they need to be corporeal so a ghost isn't quite right. Making deals with bad things is fine too. She wants to raise her daughter from the dead and kill the warden who murdered her. Just not sure how to make it work.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2013 15:30:54 GMT -8
In one of the first three books something happened where ghosts were actually partially coporeal and wrecking the material world if you are looking for in cannon type solutions.
Or you could go with something as simple as a possession where you're big bad has taken over another person. In fact If you can have that person be an NPC close to the party that's even better as you get the drama of the inevitable betrayal that is revealed to be a possession.
Really need a little more background on the big bad to give any more in depth brain storming or ideas.
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Post by greatwyrm on Mar 5, 2013 16:16:31 GMT -8
She could have been a clone/humonculous (sp?)
Wishes from a monkey's paw.
The entire scene was an elaborate illusion, including the presence of the warden. It was all to set the warden up for something and the warden is also missing.
Something swam against the stream of time and set it up so the warden killed the target's future-self or past-self. Apply paradox liberally.
Some kind of fey "puppetmaster" used a combination of magi-plastic surgery and mind control to make a convincing stand-in, for a fee.
The target made a deal with an evil/fey cat in return for some number of it's nine lives.
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Post by kurtpotts on Mar 5, 2013 16:44:58 GMT -8
The villain Cassandra’s daughter jennise is killed by the wardens for breaking the first law. Jennise burned down her fathers home with him in it after a fight. Warden Gomez judged, juried and ultimately executed her. She wants revenge on the wardens, and specifically warden Gomez, for the loss of her daughter She does not possess the kind of power necessary to contend with a warden of the white council so she starts doing research. She finds a way to enthrall other minor talents and use their power. It would be easier to just sacrifice them, but she will not take the lives of people she sees as innocent. The more she enthralls the talents around the city the more missing persons and reports of a cult begin to surface. And the wardens take note.
The Intro The valley’s warden Gomez along with a younger warden Prescot from new mexico arrive to investigate. They find that Cassandra is hold up in an abandoned building in downtown fresno with at least 10 thralls. The thralls should not be harmed if it can be helped. Cassandra is to be taken to LA to face sentence for breaking the (4th? law). If Cassandra dies she will be a ghost villain if she escapes she’ll be a normal villain but her goal is the same gather enough power to get revenge on warden Gomez and then attempt to bring her daughter back from the dead. I’m trying to think of some death contingency that fits in the dresdenverse. Something like a pact with a demon to preserve her in case her body should be damaged.
The party are all thralls under her control. After the wardens free them from Cassandra they will be given the option to create a paranet coven in Fresno to aid in the early warning of any such things in the area. I’m gonna use this combat to teach the players how the game works with some hastily made pregens and then they can make their character during city creation like normal. Any of the ten or so thralls that die or chose not to be part of the paranet are not PCs.
The Scenario I’m gonna try to run this as a tight 3 part series. Session 1 The PC’s start getting reports of monster sightings. And word through the grapevine says a lot of prominent gang members are being murdered. If they chose to investigate they find some small time gang has recently learned to transform into monsters and are grabbing up lots of territory and cash. If they don’t investigate they get robbed by one. They are introduced to Officer Jynx a semi clued in cop in the Fresno PD. Jynx wants to know what’s going on so he is willing to give the pc’s some wiggle room. The Final Conflict ends with the pc’s getting a magic Item from a gang member that they used to transform. Think werewolf belt from Fool Moon.
Session 2 While trying to find out what the item is they are attacked by something else (not sure yet, probably a henchman of whatever thing Cassandra is using to get power from) this will either reinforce that they are on the right track or give them something else to investigate. They will find out the thing and the gang are all working for the same master. The final confrontation they will get a clue that leads them to a cabin in the woods.
Session 3 Investigation of the cabin will reveal preparation for a big black magic ritual. After some research it will reveal that the ritual will trade the lifeforce of one being for another. Only one place will make sense for the ritual and they have to get their to stop it. All the monster chaos was just to draw in Warden Gomez and lead him their so Cassandra can raise her daughter with his lifeforce.
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Post by kurtpotts on Mar 5, 2013 16:45:32 GMT -8
Probably more info than you were asking for but this is my game concept.
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Post by kurtpotts on Mar 5, 2013 16:52:01 GMT -8
As a side note I will probably try to kill Gomez or have him sacrifice himself to save Prescott in the final fight so the party has an inexperienced warden. Not someone they can run to every time they are in trouble.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2013 17:05:57 GMT -8
Considering you are using Dresden Files, and thus FATE, you are going to have to keep a tight rein on the players if you want to stick to such a railroad. I've found the nature of the system gives the players alot of power to send premade plans into the wind.
Sounds like a fairly cool story that certainly fits with the Dresden world though.
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Post by kurtpotts on Mar 5, 2013 17:11:30 GMT -8
I'm sure they will do whatever they want. I just figured I'd prep for if they take my hooks. I like the idea that she is possessing someone though. In cannon doesn't magical talent come with the body not the spirit? Meaning shed have to possess someone with talent.
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Post by greatwyrm on Mar 5, 2013 19:57:37 GMT -8
Maybe Cassandra has discovered or made a deal that got her a flawed copy of an Egyptian "Book of the Dead". She uses it to make a xerox copy of herself which she allows to be captured and probably killed. That gets the heat off her while she tries to get everything else together for the ritual to bring back her daughter.
But it's a flawed copy of the book. The copy isn't quite right and anyone who really knows her sees things that just aren't right. The Sight would indicate something wrong, but it'd be tough to say what. If she succeeds in the ritual to bring back the daughter, everything goes bat guano wrong. She's crazy, her soul is back but the body is still a mess, or maybe she's possessed by some evil spirit of the Egyptian pantheon.
Ya, it rips off "The Mummy" a bit, bit it could fit where you want to go.
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Post by kurtpotts on Mar 5, 2013 20:43:53 GMT -8
I like the Egyptian book thing. The copy works but it sounds like some pretty heavy magic. The kind that comes with a bargin. I wonder who the Egyptian god of vengeance is.
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Post by greatwyrm on Mar 5, 2013 21:43:17 GMT -8
Apparently the Egyptian god of vengeance was Petbe. Since I can find almost nothing about him on the internet, I'd assume he was probably too boring to be of interest. Plus, he seems to be one of the rare Egyptian gods without some kind of animal head -- also not a good sign. But then, he might be eager to make some kind of pact, being just so happy anybody remembers him.
Another decent choice might be Shezmu. A loin-headed guy who's wikipedia entry makes him sound like Anubis' hitman. He might be a bit too "just" if you're concerned with that. Lion-headed gangsters would be kinda cool in your first scenario.
Ooooh, here's another guy with potential. Am-heh, the devourer or millions. Lives in the underworld on a lake of fire. Head of a dog. That sounds like a guy interested in starting some trouble.
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Post by kurtpotts on Mar 5, 2013 22:35:44 GMT -8
I could tie them to the gangsters by making them were creatures to match.
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Post by shadrack on Mar 6, 2013 8:21:27 GMT -8
I'm sure they will do whatever they want. I just figured I'd prep for if they take my hooks. I like the idea that she is possessing someone though. In cannon doesn't magical talent come with the body not the spirit? Meaning shed have to possess someone with talent. I believe the big baddy body snatcher does have this issue. Ideas: 1) Cassandra knew the show was about up, so she made some other/new thrall look like the ringleader and that poor sap will be tried and executed by the Wardens. (another innocent victim to fuel her desire for vengeance) 2) Cassandra is a body snatcher (perhaps this is her main ability - she is just getting into the enthrallment bit), she thrashes enough that the hood slips just before her execution and she takes over Warden Gomez's trainee. 3) Just before she gets caught she manages to open a door to the nevernever and escape. Perhaps with help from the other side, who else has Gomez ticked off? sounds like a cool premise!
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Post by shadrack on Mar 6, 2013 8:33:04 GMT -8
bargain wise, she could've bargained for help from any goddess related to motherhood or a diety of the household as well.
Don't mess with a mad mama.
Isis for instance, has influence on both motherhood and magic. She also resurrected Osiris after Set spread Osiris pieces all over the place. Kind of like that little girls head that got chopped off by that nasty warden. So there is a resurrection aspect as well.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2013 21:10:11 GMT -8
If you want a little obscure might I suggest Nergal, or Nirgali. A babylonian god who shows up in the Bible and was a solar deity symbolizing the time of the summer sun, of blistering heat and the dead times when nothing could grow. He was also a god of the underworld and considered by some to be an evil god or demon. He was called the fiery one and was also a God of war.
As a fire god you could have the mobsters burned to death, offerings to Nirgali in place of your Villain's soul, the warden's being the ultimate price to return her daughter to life. The people turning into monsters could be cultists that your Villain has brought together to worship Nirgali in order to give him enough power to manifest and through them his corruption is flowing into the material world.
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